Airship.



G. E. RICHMOND.

AQRSHIP.

APPLCTN HLE .NE 6.1917. 1 ,270,971 Patented July 2, 19H5.

IZ] 4 SHEET EET l G. E. RICHMOND.

AIRSHIP.

APPLwAImN min JUNE 6,1911.

1 ,270,97 1 Patented July 2, 11115.

l4 SHEETS-SHEET 3 G. E. RICHMOND.

AIRSHIP.

APPLICATION FILED )UNE 6.!91?. 1,270,971.

lu uc vv, (Toi WMI n moe d i ful Improvements in Ail-ships,

Gannon anion-nom), or AUSTIN, Texas.'-

AIBSHIP.

Toall 'whomtma concern.'

Be it known t at I,- Gnoaen E. RICH- Mono, a citizen of the UnitedStates, ing at Austin, in the county of 'Trzwis and State of Texas, haveinvented new and use following is a specification.

This inventionrelates to improvements in airships of thelighter-than-airtypewwhere` moto in thel body or car of-athe craft is supported by oneor more gaselds or aerostats, each Y constructed of -an outer inclosingcasing or of rupture of provide an airship; w

' readily and conveniently lihandled and to.

moreperson's besides the pilot L1 support one or or aeronaut, andwhichmay be caused to' envelop containing a multiplicity of small balloons orgasibags therein, so that in case `ne or more' of the bags and theescape of gas therefrom thel buoyancy of .the `remaining bags willremain unimpaired. Y 4

One object of thepresent invention is to "eh is adapted to 'be ascenderdescend in a straight path, hover Y rise from the-surface of a bo4provide an airship Aso $5 effective manner.

over any given point, and alight upon and f y of water. A further objectof the invention Vis to ranged on opposite' sidesof the longitudinalVcenter thereof and centrally supporting a' car suspended therefrom,eachA of which `aerostats comprises an envelop adapted to serve as aparachute in the event of -danger andto protect the ,inclosed gas bagsin an A further object ofthe invention is to provide an aerostatincluding an envelop adapted for the through, and small captive balloonsarranged within the ,envelop and connected with'restraining cords so asto have a limited range of movement, whereby in the event of thepenetration of the shell by a missile liability of damage to theinclosedballoonswillv be reduced to the minimum,

the balloons also bein kept'cool ,by the air circulating throught eenvelopy to obviate liability of undue ex ansion thereof.

A still further ob]eot ofthe invention is to provide Aa means -forvautomatically quenching an` fire which may start tobrea out within t eaerostat, so as to diminish liability of the explosion thereof.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a ropelling systemincluding a main engine or operating the driving prof' peller,

residof p which the. i

free circulation of air there- Patented July 2, y19:18.

application nica :une 8,1917. sei-iai No. vaise.

one or more lifting propellers, an electric circuit including a motor-and storage battery for. driving said lifting propel- 1ers, a generatoron the main engine shaft for replenishing the batteries, and meanswhereby the generator may be I rlade to serve as a motordriven b tery inthe event o A still further object of the invention is to provideanairshi which is simple of construction and may be built and operated ata comparatively low cost. L

With these and ot 'er objects in Niew, the

invention consists o the features of cont struction, combination and'arrangement of parts. hereinafter fully -described and \claimed,reference beingl had to the accompanying-drawin s in w ich z- Figure 1isa embodying my invention. .y Fig.v2 is a side elevation of the samaFig. 3 is a top plan view Fig. 4 is a vertical Itransverse thereof onthe line 4-4 of Fig. 2. t Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudine through -oneof the aerostats. y

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section car near theto thereof. Y Fig. 7 is a'raginentary perspective view o f the envelop of one of the aeorstats. y

Fig. 8 is a detail view. of the ruddei's;` Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic viewof the electric circuit andconnections. v

Referring now more particularly tothe drawings, l designates a carconstructed of any suitable light and durable material, and which isadapted for transit through the air, as well as to readily light andfloat upon the surface of abody `of water. This c'ar is designed tohouse the pilot or aeronaut.. and an assistant or one or morepassengers, thel fuel, provisions and other impediments. to be carried,and theengines and other inclosed working parts of the ship. The generalshape or form of the car is that disclosed, but any other suitable shapeor, form of car may be employed.

Dis osed at 4a suitable elevation'abo've the top o the Acar is a whichthecar 1s connected by suitable suspending connections 3, and disposedupon opposite' sides of said frame structure -2 and currentl from thebat-ff' stoppage of the main y i 65 of the aiishipsection la the' l rontelevation of an airship 10sV frame structure 2 with have a relativeshiftin fixed to and extending outwardly from the sides of the car.

These aerostats l are designed to have suliicient lifting capacity toapproximately sustain the weight of the car and the load carriedthereby,thus diminishing the amount of power required for ascension andr0- pulsion, and each aerostat is fish-shape or of other suitablestream-line form and comprises an outer casing or envelop 6 containing amassor multitude of gas bags 7,

The casing 6 of each aerostat is made of some strong but light anddurable metal, and is formed of segmental sections 6', the meeting edgesof which are provided with flanges 8, the fianges of adJacent sectionsbeing united b bolts or rivets 9. The upper", substantially ome-shapedhalf of each envelop is imperforate, while the lower semielliptical halfof the envelop is perforate throughout for the admission of air, wherebyin the event of the fall of the craft, from accident or other cause, airwill enter the aerostat casings through the lower perfo-- rate portionsthereof and bank or be compressed within the u per imperforate portionsthereof, where y the aerostats are adapted to serve as parachutes todiminish the speed of descent and allow a safe landing to be made. Atthefront of each aerostat is a central air intake opening 6, and .at therear of each aerostat 1s an air outlet or discharge opening 6b, wherebyin the forward travel of the shi air will be allowedv to passlongitudinally through the envelop, for circulation through and betweenthe gas bags, 7, whereby said bags will be kept cool and prevented frombecoming overheated and expanding to an undue extent. The open'- ings6'* and 6" also serve as vents to permit of the escape of air from theenvelop when performing the function of a arachute.

The gas bags 7 are made of ru ber or other suitable material, containinhydrogen or other buoyant gas',V each bag drieal Yor othersuitableforni.V` fThe bags-are nested within the envelop and permittedto motion .to a determined degree, and totiis endare attached to theupper ends ofA conliirii'l'g or tethering cords 10, which are suitablyfastened at their lower ends to the keel of the envelop. By thisconstruction and arrangement of the gas bag, spaces are provided betweenthe bags for the flow of cooling currents of air, while the usual factorof safety is obtained in confining the body of buoyantgas within aplurality of separate and individual bags insteadof within a single bagor receptacle. .Each bag is also backed by a resilient mass of otherbags, so that in the event ofthe penetration of the envelop by amissile' any bags struck, unless solidly hit, will yield and Aallow themissile to pass through the envelop without perforating any bag, whilein the eing of cylin-` event of the perforationof any particular bag itsresilient or cushioning action will tend to prevent destruction of otherbags, thus securing a greater range of safety. The (inscribedarrangement of thebags also rovides for the compression of theincloseti) air for aiparachutic action as reviously explained, us willbe readily un erstood. For the purpose of providing for theextinguishnient of any fires which may start within the aci-estat, Iprovide at the top of. each aerostat a tank or other water receptacle 11having a lling opening normally closed by a plu or other suitableclosure 12. A pipe '13 ends from this tank downwardly to a Sprayer head14 arranged within the upper portion of the 4aerostat, and which sprayerhead is provided with suitably arranged nozzles, each closed by aclosure device of any suitable construction which will be opened whenthe temperature within lthe en- -velop rises' above a normalpredetermined temperature, so that in the event of the' starting of afire the interior of the envelop ,will at once be Hooded with water fromthe tank. tinguislied before it can spread to any extent or canse anexplosion, the water draining ont through the perforated bottom of theenvelop to restore normal conditions within the aerostat upon theextinguishment of the ame.

The propelling mechanism of the craftv comprises a forward tractor ordrivin ropeller 15 mounted upon a shaft 16 and rlven from a main engine17 preferably 0f the in ternal combustion type, said engine being-supplied with gasolene or other fuel from a storage tank 18 containedPwithin the body 1. In addition to the opeller 15 one or By this meansthe fire will be exmore, preferably two, lifting propellers 19 areemployed, said propellers being mounted upon vertlca shafts 2O adaptedto be driven b friction gearing 21 from a transmission sliaft 22suitably driven from an electric motor 23. The friction gearing may beof a well known ty e which may be manually thrown into andont of-aetion'at will and the gears of which are relatively adjustable to vary theirspeed, so that the lifting .propel- 1ers may be thrown into and out ofaction as desired and their Speed of action governed to assist insustaining the machine in flight,

or adapt it to rise to any desired elevation at the will of the pilot.-The motor 23 is supplied with cu'rrent from storage batteries 24, whichare constahtly replenishedv with current in the travel of the machinefrom a' generator4 25 on' the shaft' 16', the feed Vconuctors betweensaid batteries and generator being arranged so as'to be overned by apole reversing switch 26, whic in one postion will connect the elementsfor the transmission of current generated by the generator to thebatteries, which in another posi.

' tion will reverse the directidn of the current for. flow from thebatteries to the field of the generator. Thus inthe .event of thestoppage or derangement of the main ymotor 17 current from the storagebatteries may be supplied to the generator, which through its reversalof actionwill operate as an electric motor, thus driving the shaft 16 sothata continuity of flight may be maintained.

I The ship is designed to be steered and stabilized by means of a tailpiece forming a laterally swinging vertical rudder 27 and verticallyswinging horizontal rudder 28, Which'rudder's are coupled by`connections 27 and 28 to concentrically mounted control Wheels 29 and 30arranged Within the car in suitable proximity to the pilots sea-t i 31,whereby said rudders may be conveniently operated for steering"A andstabilizing actions. Springs 31 are prpvided'for alltoinaticallymaintaining the rudders in normal position, and resisting deflectionthereof from such position,so that when strong or adverse currents o airare encountered accidental adjustment of the rudders under the pressurethereof will be prevented or resisted until the pilot can regaincontrol. The car is also designed to be equipped with a suitable seatfor the pilots assistant, an

observer or a passengergsand may be furnished with suitable lookfout orobservationports constructed -and'arranged in any suitable manner.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawings,it Will be seen that my invention provides an air-ship of the characterset forth which is simple of construction and designed to` carry out theobjects of the invention in a reliable and e cient manner. It will, ofcourse, be unf derstood that while the construction disclosed ispreferred, changes falling within the scopevof the appended claims maybe made Without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of theadvantages of the invention.

I claim v 1. In an airsliip, a driving propeller, a lifting propeller, amain motor for actuating the driving propeller, an electric motor foractuating the lifting propeller, a storage battery for supplying currentto said electric motor, a generator driven inthe operation of thepropeller by the main motor for furnishing current to replenish thebattery, and means for reversing the flow of the current forsupplying'eurrent from the battery to tor into a motor for driving thepropeller in the event of the stoppage or derangemeiit i of the mainmotor. t

2; In an airship, an aerostatcomprising -an envelop having' an upperimperforat portion anda lower perforate port-ion, an a pluralityofseparate and independent gas bags disposed in spacedrelation within theaerostat.

3, In an,airship, an aerostat comprising an envelop having an upperimperforate portion and a lower perforate portion, and. provided withfore-and-alft air inlet and airA discharge openings, and aplurality ofseparate and-independent balloons arranged in spaced relation withinsaid envelop.

4. In an arship, an aerostat comprising ,an 'envelop having an upper`imperforate portion and a lower perforate portion and, provided Witliforeandaft air intake and discharge openings, a series of separate andvindependent gas bags arrangedy Within said aerostat, and tethering cordsconnected with the respective balloons at their upper ends `thegenerator so as to convert said generaand with the bottom portion of theenvelop at their lower ends and flexibly maintaining said gas bags inposition.

5. In an aerostat, an envelop comprisin l arranged in massed` `formationWithin Said,

envelop. l

6. 'In an aerostat, an envelop, gas bag within the envelop, a receptaclefor an extinguishing fluid mounted upon the top of the envelop, andmeans controlled by the internal temperature of the envelo for supplyingthe extinguishing Huid to t e interior of said envelop.

In testimony whereof I ailix in si ature.

GEORGE ERIC M ND.

